Page 95 of Bound By the Duke

His throat worked. For once, he could not hide behind coldness. For once, he wanted to be honest. To let go of his guilt, his vows, his restraint.

“Yes,” he said, his voice hoarse.

Her brow creased. “What is it?”

At that, he took one step, then another. Each deliberate and slow, until the distance between them shrank, leaving nothing but heat.

When he was close enough to breathe her in, to see the rise and fall of her chest, he let the words tumble out. “You.”

Before she could gasp, before she could think, his hands seized her waist and pulled her flush against him. And, deciding not to hold back, his mouth crashed onto hers.

His kisses were never tender. They were never polite. They were everything he had denied himself, unleashed at once—fierce, all-consuming, and desperate.

Aurelia moaned into his mouth, shuddering as she melted against him. Even when her back hit the wall with a muted thud, she didn’t care. All she could focus on was him.

He tasted her like he was starving, a broken duke, as though every ounce of his restraint had vanished.

Her hands flew up to his shoulders, her nails digging into the fine fabric. Heat splintered through her body and pooled low in her belly. She shuddered as his tongue parted her lips and slipped inside.

These were no stolen moments. No fleeting moments he might later regret. This was hunger.

“Percival…” she moaned breathily.

He growled in response, and she felt the vibration in her chest, in her bones. His mouth tore from hers, only to trail hot, wet kissesdown her jaw to her neck. His teeth grazed her skin, biting just enough to make her moan.

And the sound only seemed to drive him further from sanity.

“You drive me mad,” he hissed against her throat, his breath hot. “Do you know what you do to me?”

Aurelia trembled, the throbbing ache between her thighs betraying her. “Then stop… Stop pretending that you don’t want me…”

“I wish.” His words broke against her skin as he sucked the tender curve of her neck, leaving his mark. “God help me.”

His hand slid down her back and cupped her buttocks, squeezing until she gasped and arched against him. He pressed her harder against the wall, grinding his arousal against her stomach.

Aurelia felt him. She felt him so terribly. How hot, thick, and straining he was. Her knees nearly gave way.

Without hesitation, he lifted her leg and wrapped it around his waist, before pressing his arousal against her sex. She cried out at the shock of feeling his hardness.

It was difficult but she remembered to swallow her moans as his mouth claimed hers again. She didn’t want Lottie alerted to what they were doing or worse still, they’d draw the girl’s attention and she walk in on them.

His kisses didn’t slow and she returned them with just as much ardent hunger. It was brutal and wet, their tongues colliding and teeth clashing.

She kissed him back just as wildly, just as desperately, as though her very life depended on his taste.

When he lifted her suddenly, she gasped and looped her arms tight around his neck. Then, he moved, carrying her with that strength that made her dizzy. His mouth never left hers as he crossed the hall.

With every step he took, the kiss deepened, his teeth tugging at her lower lip and his tongue plunging deeper. By the time he shoved the door open, Aurelia realized with disbelief where they were.

His chamber. The room he had banned her from since their wedding.

The room was dark, smelling of his cologne and something sinful.

He lowered her onto his bed, and her breath stuttered as his gaze slid leisurely over her.

“I want to strip you naked,” he rasped, his voice almost unrecognizable. “I want to devour every inch of you. Do you understand what you’ve done to me, Aurelia?”

Her thighs clenched, heat gushing between them at the feral look in his eyes.